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Saturday, 16 January 2016

People complain about the system but refuse to abandon it

Nearly
everybody complaining about the system — however defined — is
doing so from within the system. They refuse to abandon the dominant
paradigm even as it abuses them. They call for reform of a system
incapable of reform. They refuse to change course while bemoaning a
system that will not change course.

Why
will the system not change course? Because the vast majority of
people within the system are unwilling to change. “Change is good,”
they say. But talk is cheap and their actions speak volumes.

In
the United States, self-identified Democrats and self-identified
Republicans provide superb examples. The masses ignore the fact that
the two parties are pushing virtually identical agendas. The two
dominant parties represent the twin cheeks of the corporate ass.
Nearly everybody I know keeps kissing one cheek while disparaging the
other. Such division benefits a few at the expense of the many. The
many remain typically clueless.

Next
up: Hope and Change, the sequel. What shall we call it, to confuse
the masses? Socialism, perhaps. That’ll surely befuddle the typical
American, who claims to hate capitalism while practicing and
promoting it every day. Or maybe we’ll select a woman in the name
of “progress” and a post-racial post-gender society. Regardless
of the outcome, American Empire and its close partner Israel will
continue to murder brown children and scores of non-human species. Freedom isn’t free, although the primary costs remain ignored by
the citizenry.

The
masses claim they’re not anti-science. Rather, they’re pro-myth.
That’s my take-home message from a populace dominated by faithful
citizens, instead of thoughtful ones. As a result of rampant
indifference to reason as a guide to living, Americans are easily
manipulated. There’s a reason nearly a third of the advertising
dollars in the world are spent on the 4.5% of the world’s human
population occupying the U.S.A. (the United States of Advertising).
In sharp contrast to the country into which I was born, other
industrialized nations have citizens capable of thinking skeptically.
Perhaps not many. But certainly some.

Americans
are the product of decades of “dumbing down.” The cultural
indoctrination has produced a populace largely incapable of using
reason as a guide to living. Because most Americans cannot use
reason, they don’t. It’s the perfect cultural stew for the two
outcomes now obviously on display: (1) scum has risen to the top, and
(2) abuse requested from the masses has been granted by the scum.

The
masters of oligarchy care about we, the people, only as laborers,
consumers, and cannon fodder. Buy more crap you don’t need. Stay on
your hamster wheel. Obey, don’t think. Breed. Feed the beast, not
your children. Above all, do not question anything except the brands
you consume. Which brand of cheap beer? Which brand of cheap
gasoline? Which brand of cheap life? Most importantly to the drones
on their hamster wheels, paper or plastic?

These
are the “depths” typical Americans are willing to plumb. We’ll
question everything, except what really matters.

What
really matters? War vs. conquest. Changing lives while we die.
Oppression vs. freedom. The costs of “progress.” Obedience vs.
slavery. The consequences of imperialism. What we fear. The costs of
economic “growth.” Above all, at least for me, empathy. That’s
my short list, created with little thought. As always, any number can
play.

Instead
of changing, people embedded within the dominant paradigm prefer to
disparage others. “China is horrible,” they proclaim. “They’re
burning all that coal, polluting the air.” Or maybe it’s Brazil
this week. Or India, using all those “resources” we need here in
the homeland.

When
you’re dead, you don’t know you’re dead. It affects other
people, though. It’s the same when you’re a patriarch. And,
contrary to popular belief, one need not be male to be guilty of
patriarchal behavior.

Asking
questions is difficult, especially when rewards result from placating
the scum atop the stew. An entire life spent soaking in the cultural
milieu provides little opportunity to rise above the stew and take a
look around. And because there is no reward for asking questions, the
questions remain unasked. The populace remains contented. The
citizenry becomes the system. The machine marches on.